I was just talking to @thrasherxy about his exciting new book and it reminded me of something
I was born in 1984. My moms are gay and so was so much of our community as I grew up. There were five people I was particularly close with as a little kid that died from AIDS.
It was such a strange crisis – and so weird to experience as a child. People just disappeared. There was so much stigma. Two of my parents' friends didn't want them to tell me they were sick. They went away to die in private. I didn't find out what happened until I was older.
One of our friends and his partner died with us all around. There was incredible pain. Lesions. It is a brutal sickness.
Years later when I was going into j school, I was taking the test and it included an essay. I wrote about how watching the AIDS crisis helped make me want to be a reporter. It showed me people need their stories told.
This is me with my friends Richard and Phillip. They're not here any more, but they had a real impact on me. Image

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More from @hunterw

7 Feb
At the Capitol I saw people clearly taking their cues from Trump's Twitter account. I feel strongly that it's important to point that out.
Here's one of my clips. This guy tried to get people to go to CNN and MSNBC's offices. "Listen up ... FYI Kayleigh McEnany just tweeted at the discretion of Trump. The National Guard will be coming to clear us ... We need to go take down MSNBC, CNN ... they started the fire"
Here's another one of my clips. At the end you can see a guy grab a bullhorn and announcing "Donald Trump has just tweeted please stay peaceful." At least some in the crowd were clearly taking cues from the president and, as we know, his first message was "fight like hell."
Read 5 tweets
6 Feb
I see a lot of people bashing Zeke's question but the president's decision to travel absolutely leads to more exposure for people traveling with him and in Delaware.
I literally asked Trump if his behavior was superspreading. I wrote multiple stories on his lax protocols and outbreaks at the White House.
Read 4 tweets
3 Feb
There is a debate going on here about whether people who were at the Capitol complex had a right to be scared on January 6. I was there.
I would like to think I have seen some things in my day. I have been present for violent protests, shootings, violent protests, a fatal accident, and a terrorist attack. January 6 was one of the scariest things I have ever witnessed.
I keep flashing back to the first moment I realized people were inside the dome. There was no data reception. I hadn't seen it online. I called my editors to let them know.
Read 11 tweets
3 Feb
NYCs colors are actually prretty important to the city. The borough of Brooklyn could really use a new flag though. Have been hoping to see @ericadamsfornyc do something about this for a long time.
This is actually the flag of Brooklyn, one of the world's most vibrant and diverse places. The woman is holding a fasces, which later became the symbol of Mussolini's fascist party. Such a shame in a place so known for art and culture.
Please fix Brooklyn's flag! @ericadamsfornyc @AndrewYang @MartyMarkowitz!
Read 4 tweets
1 Feb
Koch set up his grave well in advance of his death. Despite his Jewish pride, he's in a church in Washington Heights because it was important to him to go in the ground in Manhattan and it was one of the few remaining spots.
I used to see his grave when I lived uptown. I ended up doing his final long interview. He kept me in his office well past deadline. There was a lot he wanted off his chest. Later on, I became certain he knew he was leaving and wanted to air some final thoughts. It was an honor.
One of the last things Koch aired out to me was that he privately thought Andrew Cuomo was a "prick." We talked for well over an hour. This remains one of my favorite interviews I ever did. RIP to an NYC original. observer.com/2013/02/koch-a…
Read 4 tweets
16 Jan
As they falsely blame antifa for the Capitol attacks it's probably time for a periodic reminder that the @EpochTimes publishes ridiculous propaganda on behalf of conservative megadonors and the Falun Gong religious movement.
As final rioters were being cleared off the Capitol steps, I stood nearby as @EpochTimes propagandist interviewed a Trump supporter who participated in the attack. The host asked the man what he wanted the world to know because, "mainstream media wont tell the truth about this."
It was such a blatant sign of how this outlet had settled on a pro-Trump counterfactual narrative before the smoke even cleared.

The people who claim everyone else is lying are so often the ones pushing conspiracies and lies.
Read 4 tweets

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